Betrayal Is A Point Of View
by padfoot's prose
Summary: Set when Kiara and Kovu are little. I think it explains some of the things that aren't explained that happen between when they're little and when they meet again.


**Okay, just a random little thing that I wrote randomly. It didn;t turn out eveyr well so I don't really recommend reading, I was just bored and thought that there wasn;t really any point in writing it if I didn't even post it. Doesn;t rally have a point or storyline or anything, just a random little thing.**

**Disclaimer: Why am I always diaclainming ownership of Disney? How unoriginal is that? Can't I write fanfiction on anything else? I am so pathetic... so if I didn't own Disney when I disclaimed ownerhsip of it in the most recnet chapter of Just Friends, am I really going to own it now? A clue, NO!**

**Betrayal Is A Point Of View**

Kiara lay on her bed of dry grass, staring at the blank cave walls around her. She could vaguely hear Timon and Pumbaa outside, discussing the delicate flavour of a new type of bug; ew. Lifting her head slightly, Kiara watched as thw two began pacing around the cave entrance, their discussion growing more and more heated as Timon's voice rose and Pumbaa continued the argument.

"The colour was definitely a light blue, I saw it." Timon said, his small form pausing to glare at the warthog opposite him.

"No Timon, it was green, I could taste it." Pumbaa argued. Kiara rolled her eyes and dropped her head back to on top of her paws again.

'You didn't taste the colour, you great big… hog." Timon snapped, Kiara watched in interest and Pumbaa stepped back, looking hurt.

"Take that back!"

"No, you are a hog, it's a fact."

"Take it back!" Pumbaa's tone was rising and he stepped closer to the meerkat, towering over his small friend.

"No I won't!" Timon stepped back.

"Yes you will! Pumbaa stepped forward again.

"No!" Timon disappeared from Kiara's sight as he disappeared behind the front o the cave.

"Yes!" Pumbaa also disappeared from her view, and Kiara slowly stood, trying to make as little sound as possible as her small paws shifted a few of the scattered pebbles on the cave floor. She crept quietly towards the mouth of the cave, desperately trying to avoid stepping on anything that could make a noise, then again considering the intensity of Timon and Pumbaa's argument they mightn't notice the noise anyway. Reaching the entrance to the cave, Kiara held back a sigh of relief as the ground under her paws became hard, with only a shallow layer of sand beneath her, helping to dampen any noise that she might make.

Turning to her right, Kiara chanced a glance behind her to see Timon and Pumbza still absorbed in their argument, Pumbza stamping angrily and Timon shaking his fist. Smiling to herself, the lion cub leapt nimbly down the first few rocks until she was sure she was out of sight, speeding up to finish her descent down Pride Rock.

Once she'd reached the base of the rock, Kiara shrank back into its shadow, looking around to see if the rest of the pride had returned from their hunt yet, but there was no sign of them on the far off horizon so she continued. When the shadow of the rock eventually came to an end on the edge of a field of tall shrubs, Kiara didn't halt or change her path; she just went on the way that she remembered so well.

Unable to resist the excitement building up in her bones, she raced a butterfly through the grass -dodging the occasional rock or bird if either got in her way- until its bright wings disappeared above her. Smiling as she continued running blindly through the tall grass, Kiara allowed her mind to wander. What would happen if her father discovered she'd run away again? Would she get in trouble, or would he just be disappointed in her?

Despite the warm weather and the orange sun bearing down on her, a shiver shuddered along Kiara's spine. She was knowingly disobeying her father again, and for what? A simple answer was all that echoed through her mind. Freedom. It was all she wanted. Freedom to do what she wanted, freedom to go where she wanted, freedom to be with who she wanted, when she wanted. Why was that so hard for everyone else to understand?

Suddenly Kiara crouched down in the tall grass surrounding her, something was coming towards her; she could smell it on the light breeze blowing around her. Feeling her heart beat faster as whatever it was got closer, the young lion began edging backwards, half of her full of terror, the other half curious at what was coming to wards her. She held back a yelp as her back hit a rock, trapping her between it and whatever was coming towards her. The scent increased and she knew that it was almost upon her; she desperately looked for an escape and instead just lay even lower in the grass.

"Kiara?" Her head shot up as she recognised the familiar voice.

"Kovu?" She smiled as his dark head with the first signs of an even darker mane appeared from among the grass in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

"Exploring." He answered nonchalantly, brushing the question off as the rest of him appeared out of the grass as he wandered into the small patch of flattened grass that Kiara had unintentionally created.

"But why are you here, in the Pride Lands, if my father find you-" Kiara started, concerned laced through her tone, but Kovu cut her off.

"I won't let him find me." She stared at him for a moment, how could he be so sure that he could get by so easily unhindered?

"How do you know?" She challenged, following him as he leapt onto the rock behind her. For a moment the two teetered on the top of the small rock, but they managed to arrange themselves so that both of them fit on its smooth surface.

"Because he's out hunting, I saw him pass the waterhole a while ago, and he can't have caught anything yet." Kiara found herself unnerved by his total confidence, but tried to ignore it.

"Why can't he have?" She prodded further; getting some satisfaction from the annoyed expression he shot her.

"Because my pride has been hunting out there for a while now."

"But you're not allowed." Kiara stood and turned to frown at Kovu before jumping back down off the rock and waiting for him at its base.

"Who says?" He asked, following her down and landing softly beside her.

"My father."

"So?" Kiara shot him another frown before leading him through the grass, hoping that she was going in the right direction.

"You should listen to him, he's the king here, and he deserves to be. He never betrayed anyone." Kovu laughed mockingly behind her.

"Betrayal is a point of view. Zira thinks that you're father is the betrayer because he took the place of Scar."

"Scar took the place from Mufasa without anyone's approval."

"There was no one to approve it, who else could've taken on that job?" Kiara stopped as Kovu skipped past her and motioned for her to follow.

"I don't believe that." She said stubbornly, but Kovu just shrugged.

"Believe whatever you want, I'm not trying to change your mind."

"Then why are you telling me?"

"Just thought you might want to know." Kiara frowned again and caught up to him so that they were walking side by side.

Kovu led them on straight ahead for a while, before stopping to sniff the air, then altering his course a little to the left and continuing on. Kiara kept up with him, wandering through the tall grass next to him, twitching slightly at any bug that hit her side or any rock that she stumbled on; she wasn't used to going to far away from Pride Rock.

"Where are we going, Kovu?" she asked after a while.

"I' going home." He answered shortly, stopping when he felt her leave his side.

"What?" Kovu turned around to see her standing a few paces behind him, with a worried expression on her face.

"I've seen your home, now I want you to see mine."

"I can't Kovu, what if someone sees me?"

"They won't."

"But what if they do?" She felt her expression drop as she turned away, beginning back the way they'd come.

"Wait, Kiara!" Kovu, ran up beside her, looking anxious. "You can't just go, I have so much to show you."

"I can't go with you Kovu, your family, your pride; I can't go near them." He looked confused.

"Why not?"

"Because…" she broke, glancing up at him before looking back her feet. "Because my dad said not to." Kovu sniggered and took a step back.

"I thought you didn't listen to your father, I thought you weren't daddy's little girl." He pointed out. Kiara just shook her head and looked up again.

"I trust him, and he told me not to, so I won't. Bye, Kovu." She turned away and sped up when she heard him following, dodging through the grass until the sound of his steps and the smell of his fur had disappeared. A lonely sadness swept through Kiara. Now she had lost her only friend, and all because of her father. She felt numb as she continued blindly through the grass, eventually finding a rock and leaping up onto it so she could see which way she was supposed to go. Discovering that Pride Rock was virtually straight ahead, she sped up and ran the rest of the way home, pausing in the shadow of the rock to look back over at the dark part of the horizon; it looked so far away from here, had she really gone all that way with Kovu?

Sighing as she began up the slope that led to the cave, Kiara paused to look around for Timon and Pumbaa, where could they have gotten to? Hearing vague voices from higher up the rock, she hurried inside the cave, and settled back onto her bed of dry grass, burying her head in the soft cushion. Her eyes drifted closed and she felt herself drift off to sleep, some far away part of her mind hoping that she'd thrown Kovu off her trail and he hadn't been able to follow her back to Pride Rock.

She didn't see the pair of dark eyes drawn back into the shadows under the rock as Simba's hunting party returned, or the dark shape of a lion cub run off into the grass later that afternoon.


End file.
